#thank you wales for winning

[vicstenius]

AND WE WERE SINGING HYMNS AND ARIAS

LAND OF MY FATHERS AR HYD Y NOS

[recoord]

Staying neutral until Neil Gaiman is convicted by the courts?

Second attempt to express my thoughts on the matter. The first time, my wording was not the best and it needed to be fact checked so here there is a summarized attempt. Thank you to everyone who pointed it out.

Using "neutrality" to remain sceptical to the allegations is not as good as an idea as it seems.

Many have shown scepticism because of the medium, The Tortoise podcast, used to publish most of the accusations. I've found many don't know there's a second podcast that published one of the women's allegations: Am I Broken: Survivor Stories Podcast. A podcast made by a non-binary licensed clinical mental health counselor specializing in sexual trauma. The link for the podcast is here and the link for the transcript here. [Credits for the transcript to Ersatz Haderach].

Personally, I think you shouldn't discard the allegations just for the medium chosen, they're still valid. But, there’s a second podcast and Claire's allegations there help to amplify the other victims's voices. If you haven't read or listened to any of the allegations, that could be a good start.

Ignoring that information and testimonies exist is far from being neutral. Learn about the allegations before choosing "neutrality".

It's important to notice that in cases like the ones exposed by the women's allegations against Gaiman, "Neutrality" is already biased in favor of the accused.

Waiting for a formal sentence for Gaiman to start believing in the victims is choosing to blindly trust a corrupt system. It also sounds like if you weren't conscious enough of the many problems that rape victims face in the justice system.

I've found an interesting report on the matter with information about how justice fails victims . Here are some important points:

Why the legal justice fails rape survivors?

According to a report made by Centre for Women’s Justice, the End Violence Against Women Coalition, Imkaan and Rape Crisis England & Wales.(2020):

Obstacles to conviction

- "In the vast majority of (adult) rape cases, the defendant will accept that sexual intercourse took place, and it is only the element of ‘consent’ that is in dispute, or – put another way – whether a reasonable person would characterise what happened as consensual or non-consensual."

"Given the sexual nature of the offence, it will often take place in private, the complainant and defendant (or defendants) being the only persons present."

"There are very rarely any eye-witnesses to the offence itself, able to corroborate either the complainant or the defendant’s account as to what has unfolded. Indeed, there will more often be no independent evidence at all which corroborates the complainant’s account as to the circumstances of the sexual encounter. At best, there may be circumstantial evidence which supports what the complainant is saying: evidence which, for example, provides a picture of the complainant’s physical or mental state before and/or after the attack; or there may be evidence which is broadly supportive of her credibility, or undermines the suspect’s credibility."

- Even in ‘better’ periods, rape cases have always posed very significant challenges for prosecutors. While volumes of convictions have fluctuated over the years, the rate of convictions for rape has invariably been lower than in most other areas of crime."

-“it has been widely accepted by criminal justice bodies that many members of the public continue to believe in long-standing ‘myths and stereotypes’ relating to rape, which do not correspond with reality, result in disbelief of victims/survivors, and are now outdated in the eyes of the law.”

- “When a victim/survivor’s credibility is considered so fundamental to winning a rape or serious sexual offences trial, those who do not fit the ‘mould’ of a credible victim – because of their age, their outward presentation, their social skills, a disadvantaged background, or a learning mental health disability – are the least likely to see justice served.”

- “Whenever the profile of rape victims/survivors and their poor treatment by the criminal justice system begins to receive the attention it deserves, there comes a backlash and a rise in public concern regarding the fate of the ‘falsely’ accused.”

I recommend reading the whole report for further information.

Don't choose "neutrality" as an excuse to hide your bias, listen to the victims. There is a lot of information out there. Many patterns are repeated among victims who, before the allegations were made public, thought they were the only person who experienced the same thing, with Gaiman as the common denominator.

If you want to add something, feel free to do it.

[formulapierre]

His Royal Highness | George Russell

Pairing: George Russell x Royalty!Y/N

Prompt: George settles into life as the Prince of Wales which involves starting a family and having to overcome an obstacle that nobody saw coming.

Warnings: Death, Child illness: Cancer

Word count : 4135

HRH Series: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3

HRHPrinceofWales

Liked by BRDC and 1,492,750 other,

HRHPrinceofWales Amazing to finally be back at Silverstone after what felt like years away. Huge thanks to @MercedesAMGF1 and @WilliamsF1 for welcoming me back. Nice to see the inside of @MclarenF1's garage for the first time 😅

Deeply honoured to have been offered the role as President-in-chief of the BRDC after the passing of The Duke of Kent last year and I'm looking forward to working in motorsport once again.

BRDC The honour is all ours 😊

LandoNorris Great to see you again brother, dinner at yours right?

--- CharlesLeclerc Thats what I was told 🤷

View 1850 other comments...

“I didn’t think we’d be back here anytime soon,” George said as our driver pulled into our allocated parking space.

“Neither did I, though it definitely feels different,” You said, unfortunately you both had missed it the past few years so the last time you were here was in George’s final season.

“You won it the last time I was here,” You reminded him.

“I know, it was my favourite race of the season,” He said as the car doors were opened for you.

“Why’s that?” You ask, thanking the footman.

“Because It was my final race in front of my home crowd and apart from Abu Dhabi it was the only race you were able to attend,” He says, making you smile. 

“Why am I not surprised,” You say, rolling your eyes as He takes your hand and you start to walk towards the paddock. You swiped yourselves in before you were ushered towards the Williams garage. The Williams family had a fairly long history with your family so they were always the first stop. You loved seeing George reunite with some of the people that He raced with, seeing that racing spark reignite inside of him.

It wasn’t too long before you were saying your goodbyes to the Williams team and heading towards Mercedes. Lewis had announced that after winning his eighth championship last year he was retiring so there was a bit of a bittersweet atmosphere, knowing that this would be his last race in front of his home crowd. You and Lewis had known each other for years; first meeting at a lunch in 2009 where he had been seated between you and your father, and then when you knighted him in 2021 after He won his 7th championship.

“Lewis,” You said excitedly as he came your way.

“Y/N, George; How are you both?” He asks pulling his ear plugs out after just coming in from FP1.

“Good, excited to be back,” George says, knowing you both shared that sentiment. Lando joined you a few moments later, talking about the dinner George had decided to arrange for all the drivers and their partners at Kensington palace in a few days. Your time in Mercedes was cut short by Adam reminding you that you needed to be in the BRDC clubhouse in a few minutes.

You reached the clubhouse with plenty of time to spare. You recognised quite a few of the faces as you walked in, George seeming to know most of them properly; stopping to greet quite a few of them. Everyone took their allocated seats as the BRDC President David Coulthard stood up on the stage to give his speech.

“Thank you to everyone who managed to make it to Silverstone today. As I’m sure you are all very aware of. Mr George Russell. Or as I've been told to call him, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, has been announced as our new President in Chief,” He says and a round of applause moves across the room. “-and although He’s been a member since 2014 we felt we should welcome him back properly,” He adds before George gets up from his seat to give a speech he had prepared.

“Thank you David; I promise I won’t take up too much of your time. I just wanted to say thank you to you all for welcoming me back with open arms. It’s been a few years since I last raced around this track and a lot has changed since then,” George says, smiling at you before continuing. “-but racing was, and always will be a huge part of my life and I felt I had to recognise that in some way. So after the passing of The Duke of Kent it felt only right that I take up the mantle,”

Lando.jpg

Liked by PierreGasly and 490,183 others

Lando.jpg Dinner at George's new place...don't quite know if 'new' is the right word...

carlossainz55 Great night, lovely to meet the Mrs Russell properly

-- Charles_Leclerc Mate, you barely spoke to her after you got lost...

--- Lando.jpg Do you think if I stayed they would notice????

Alex_Albon Has anyone seen Lando? we were meant to be getting a cab together...

-- danielricciardo I didn't see him leave to be honest...

pierregasly Thanks for the invite brother, meet up soon 👊

Lando.jpg They found me 🥲

“They should be here,” George says, looking out the window at the drive way, anxiously tapping his foot against the hardwood floor.

“Darling, it's two minutes past seven. Take a moment and breathe,” You say, putting a hand on your husband’s shoulder.

“That’s them,” He says, completely ignoring what you said and rushing to the front door. The doors were open as the footmen had gone out to open their car doors. All of the drivers and their partners had come together so there were only six cars rather than 20, making things much quicker. You and George greeted everyone as they came in, letting Adam show them through to the dining room.

You knew a fair amount of the drivers as they had been there when George was racing; however , some of the younger ones were fresh faces to you, though George seemed to know them. Lando and his girlfriend were the last couple in, talking with you as you entered the dining room. Everyone mingled for a while, chatting to each other as flutes of champagne were handed around; George was thoroughly enjoying getting to see all of his friends again, especially in such a stress-free environment. You were enjoying yourself, getting to know a few of the younger drivers and their partners.

You were mid way conversation with Mclaren's new driver Oliver Bearman when you heard the tinking of a knife against a crystal glass. Everyone turned to look at George who was standing in the middle of the room.

“Thank you all for coming tonight, I’m well aware of how difficult it is to coordinate twenty-something schedules but it means a lot to the both of us that you could be bothered to make an effort,” He says, causing everyone to laugh. “You all look great by the way, Y/N is still trying to convince me that I look better in a morning suit than a racing suit but I feel the jury is still out on that one,” He says, teasing you. “I don’t quite think that five years ago when Lewis first introduced me to Y/N I would have believed him if He had said this is where we would be standing today. So thank you,” He says, raising his glass to Lewis. “Y/N, Darling, I know you said there was something you wanted to say,” He says and now everyone turned to look at you.

“There was; I just wanted to say thank you to all of you. Lando, Charles, and Alex especially. I know that George's decision to retire was not one he made lightly, and probably not one he would have had to make had He not known me. But you three have really made the effort to keep in touch; I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ll walk into a room and find George in fits of laughter over something you had said and it really means the world to me to see him so happy, so thank you,” You say raising your glass to the three of them. “Oh, one last thing…George has told me to tell Lando specifically that there will be no fish served tonight…nor has any of the food been near a fish,” You add and the room erupts into laughter.

“Just the way I like it,” He replies before lifting his own glass. “To George and Y/N,” He says and everyone else lifts their glasses as well. George looks at you as he raises his glass. “Question though…anyone know where I can get myself one of these?” He asks

“You mean a palace mate?” Carlos asks

“Yeah, they’re quite nice. George, do you reckon you could give us a tour? Just so I know what I’m getting myself into of course,” Lando asks and George puts his hand on his shoulder.

“After dinner I will give you the full tour I promise,” He says with a smile as everyone moves towards the table and takes their seats.

You had cut the ribbon, officially opening the new children’s hospital with a comically large pair of metal scissors. You stood with George and the directors of the hospital for some press photos before being shown inside. You greeted some of the doctors who would be making use of all the new equipment that had been installed, slowly making your way to one of the wards. You easily tuned out the snapping of cameras as the ward nurse turned to you.

“Your highness’,” She said curtsying politely. “The children are all really excited to see you, they haven’t stopped talking about your visit for weeks,” She said with a soft smile on her face.

“So these children have been here for a while then?” You ask, your heart breaking a little.

“Yes, this ward is for children currently undergoing treatment for various types of cancer so their stay tends to be much longer than usual,” She says as the door is slid open. As you step inside you are greeted by a room full of smiling faces from patients in hospital beds to siblings, parents and grandparents standing around their bedsides. The room was quite spacious with a small area in the corner with some books and toys in.

The little girl in the first bed was holding up a welcome sign that had been decorated with little tiaras and racing cars.

“We all helped,” She said looking at the other kid.

“It's beautiful, I love the glitter on the racing cars,” You say laughing a little.

“Jackson wanted racing cars so we compromised on the glitter,” She says and you look over to Jackson who just rolled his eyes. You spent your time talking to each child, answering any questions they had for you. After about half an hour George had seemed to have accumulated all of the children around one bed, talking to them about racing. Unsurprisingly, Jackson was the most vocal in the group, proclaiming He was going to be a formula one driver one day.

As He spoke to the children you took the opportunity to talk to some of the parents.

“I am in awe of you all, I don’t even know what I’d do in your positions,” You say honestly.

“We do what we have to do,” One of the fathers says. “When Tilly was diagnosed we were fortunately in a position where we could take the time off of work to be here with her, that's what matters at the end of the day,” He adds and the rest of the group seem to nod in agreement.

“He would make a great father you know,” A slightly older lady said from next to you.

“I know He would,” You reply with a smile, watching as he laughed and joked with the children, doing his best to answer some pretty complex questions about racing.

“He acts the same way my late husband did with our children, had the patience of a saint,” She adds, noticing that he kept asking the kids that were a bit quieter if they had any questions

“You were really great with those kids today,” You say to your husband as you’re getting ready for bed. “All the parents around me said that you were a natural,” You added with a smile as you pulled your pyjamas on.

“I mean there’s always been little kids in the family so I guess I grew up around them,” He says as he rests against the headboard, thumb holding open the pages of a book.

“Have you ever thought about our kids before?” You ask as you switch the main light off before climbing into bed; only Georges bedside lamp illuminating the room.

“I have,” He says with a smile. “I imagine us having three” 

“I was thinking three…” You say at the same time causing you both to laugh. “Well at least that's decided,” You add. George had slotted his bookmark in before putting the book down and turning to you.

“Did you have an idea of when you want these hypothetical children?” He asks, causing you to grin.

“I was thinking we could start trying now…” You ask, running your finger up and down his bare chest.

You threw the covers off of you as quickly as you could, rushing into the bathroom and kneeling over the toilet; you had been feeling rough for days but this was the first time something was actually threatening to come up. 

“Please let me call the doctor,” George asks as he eventually follows behind you, kneeling next to you and holding your hair.

“I’m late,” You admit to him.

“It's two in the morning, you’re not late Darling,” He says with a chuckle.

“No…I’m late, my period is late,” You clarify; it had been a few months since you had started trying so you weren’t entirely surprised when you woke up one morning feeling like this.

“Let’s get you back into bed and I’ll call for the doctor,” He says, kissing the side of your head. You stayed there for a few minutes before that bout of nausea had passed, you wiped your mouth and George helped you back into bed. He left you for a few moments to use the phone in the living room. He comes back a few moments later and sits on the side of your bed. “The doctor will be here in a few minutes and I also sent Adam out to get a few pregnancy tests,” He says, gently rubbing your leg.

“You shouldn’t have woken Adam, we could have gotten one in the morning,” You say as you wrapped the blankets around you tightly.

“Darling, it’s fine,” He says, there’s a knock on the bedroom door and George gets up to open it.

“I’m sorry to need you at this early hour Doctor,” You say as she walks in.

“It’s fine Ma’am, that’s what I’m here for,” She said with a comforting smile. You tell her how you’ve been feeling and she takes your temperature, just as there’s another knock on the door. 

“The pregnancy tests you asked for Sir,” Adam says, handing the boxes to George.

“When was your last period?” The doctor asks, making note of everything you were saying.

“Um .. about six weeks ago,” You say honestly.

“Then my professional opinion is that you need to take one of these,” She says with a slight laugh as she takes the pregnancy test out of the box and hands it to you. You take it from her and head into the bathroom. You peed on the stick, replacing the cap so nobody had to touch it. You hand it back to her and sit next to George on the bed.

“If you need anything else you know where I am,” Adam says before taking his leave. Around fifteen minutes later the doctor got up from her chair with a wide smile on her face.

‘Congratulations Ma’am,” She says handing you the pregnancy test. “I’ll leave you two alone, don’t hesitate to call for me if you have any questions,” She says before leaving as well.

“We’re having a baby,” You say quietly, staring down at the white plastic stick in your hands and the word ‘positive’ written across it.

“I love you so much,” George says ,wrapping an arm around you and pulling you in for a kiss.

KensingtonPalace

Liked by BuckinghamPalace and 3,910,582 others

KensingtonPalace It is with great joy for the palace to announce the news that their Royal Highness' The Prince and Princess of Wales are expecting their first child together.

His Majesty The King was the first to be informed of the news and is overjoyed at the news of his first grandchild.

HRHPrincessofWales 🤍🤍🤍

F1 Congratulations from your F1 family 🤍

View other 7,294 comments...

You made it your first mission today to tell your father; protocol stated that He should be the first to know.

“Father,” You said, knocking on the door to his private office.

“Darling, I wasn’t expecting to see you or George today,” He says standing up from his desk as you walk in, closing the door behind you.

“We didn’t expect to be here today either,” George says with a smile. 

“Right, ok, what’s going on?” He asks, inviting you both to sit.

“Do you want to?” You ask George, a confused expression still written across your fathers face.

“I can do,” He asks and you nod. “Y/n was seen by the doctor this morning, and it turns out that she is…we are, having a baby,” He explains and your fathers face quickly changes into one of joy.

“That is wonderful news, congratulations,” He says, getting up to pull you into a hug. “I’m so proud of you Y/N,” He says, placing a kiss on your forehead. He shakes George's hand before saying congratulations again. For the next few hours you spent visiting your Mother and sister before calling George’s family.

It wouldn’t be a few months until there was an official statement made by the palace, but you were both content in knowing that it was your little secret.

8 months later...

KensingtonPalace

Liked by BBCNews and 6,301,404 others

KensingtonPalace Her Royal Highness, The Princess of Wales was safely delivered of a son at 11.27pm yesterday.

The Prince of Wales was present at the birth and both Mother and baby are doing very well.

His Majesty The King, as well as other members of both families have been delivered the news and are delighted at the birth of HRH.

'After long consideration we have decided to name him Theodore and we cannot even begin to describe the amount of love we have for him' - HRH Prince of Wales

Comments have been limited on this post.

Theodore, Theo for short, was born late last night after around 10 hours of labour. You were so grateful to George who was by your side the entire time, doing anything you needed to. He held Theo as you got dressed, zipping up your dress and slipping on the pair of heels that had been picked out for you. You had been discharged a few hours ago and due to the weather were unable to take the first photos of your new family on the steps of the hospital so it had been moved inside Buckingham Palace

George laced his fingers into yours as you walked into the hall, the flash of cameras starting as soon as they spotted you. There were probably 30 or 40 reporters waiting for you, snapping a photo every time you moved.

“Is there a name yet your highness’?” One reporter asked, His first name had been announced but not his full name. 

“There is,” You said with a smile. “Theodore Henry Philip George, but we will be calling him Theo,” You say, answering the question. You waited a few more moments before turning and heading back into the family room where both yours and George’s families were waiting to meet little Theo. Your Mum and Dad had already had their time with Theo so stayed seated, letting George’s parents coo and fuss over him. George was holding him as you took a seat on the sofa, absolutely exhausted from the past 24 hours.

You were sitting in your private gardens at home; enjoying the warm summer day. Theo, who recently celebrated his first birthday, sitting on your lap babbling at George who was sitting opposite you, waving his cuddly bear around. Theo reached out to grab it only for George to playfully rub it against his chest, erupting fits of giggles from him.

You loved the peacefulness that the last few days had afforded you, you had miraculously had no official engagements to attend to. Which was a very rare occurrence so the both of you were making the most of it. Spending as much time together and with Theo as you possibly could.

A pointed cough interrupted your peace, you looked up to see Adam. In a state you don’t think you had ever seen him in before.

“Adam, is everything ok?” You ask as George gives Theo the bear before turning around.

“Sir, may I speak to you in private for a moment?” He asks George who puts a reassuring hand on your knee.

“I’ll be back in a moment Darling,” He says before walking away with Adam. They went inside and you could barely see them through the window; all you could see was Adam putting his hand on, what you assumed, was George's shoulder. You start to bounce Theo on your knees, trying to distract yourself from whatever was happening inside Kensington. A few moments later George stepped back outside. Diana, Theo’s nanny behind him.

 “Darling, Diana is going to take Theo and then you and I are going to go for a walk,” He says, confusing you even more.

“What, why?” You ask, handing your son over.

“Please, walk with me?” He asks, offering his arm to you. You walk quietly to a more secluded area of the garden, hedge walls high enough that nobody would be able to see you. He sat you down on a stone bench before turning towards you.

“George, you're scaring me, what's going on?” You ask, voice wavering. You noticed that he didn’t try to immediately reassure you that everything was ok, instead he took your hands into his.

“Around an hour ago, your father was rushed into hospital,” He said softly, rubbing his thumb along the back of your hand. Tears welling up in the corners of your eyes, not wanting to hear what he was going to say next.

“Don’t tell me,” You beg.

“I’m so sorry Darling,” He says, swiftly pulling you into his arms, wrapping them around you tightly.

“He’s gone?” You ask looking up at him, and George just nods.

“They think it was a heart attack, He died about twenty minutes ago,” He says, holding you against him, his hand moving to stroke your hair. “I am so sorry My love,” He says again, giving you time and space to feel what you needed to feel; as He knew that as soon as you left the safety of this Garden you wouldn’t be Y/N anymore.

You spent about an hour, sitting quietly and crying into George’s chest, not wanting to face the new reality. When you finally pulled away from him he moved his hand to wipe the tears from your face. 

“Take as much time as you need, there is no rush,” He says quietly; you quickly compose yourself. Letting the fresh air remove the blotches from your tear-stained face before you slowly walked back towards the palace. Diana was sitting on the grass with Theo and quickly stood up when she saw you round the corner. 

“Your Majesty,” She said, curtsying as she held Theo in her arms. Being called that for the first time almost knocked your breath from your throat but you just smiled as She held out your Son.

“Thank you Diana, you may go now,” You say, taking Theo from her. He tried to wrap his little arms around you, almost as if He knew that something was wrong. Now it was the three of you who stood there, all in eachothers arms.

“Ma…Ma…Mama,” Theo said and both your eyes lit up.

“Yes baby, I’m your Mama,” You said, holding him close to you as a mix of happy and sad tears fell from your eyes. George was still trying to process the information from earlier so couldn’t do anything except watch as his wife interacted with their son.

“Ma’am, your car is waiting to take you to Buckingham Palace,” Adam says, interrupting the moment. 

“We’ll be there in a moment, we need to get changed first,” You say, taking a deep breath before you all head inside. As you entered your bedroom you noticed that your mourning outfits had been laid out ready for you. You both silently changed; your long floral summer dress turning into a stiff black dress and blazer. You sat on the edge of the bed as you slipped your heels on, George changing Theo into a more appropriate outfit. Next to your outfit sat a hat box, inside was a black headband with some netting to cover your face; your hands shook as you stood in front of the mirror attempting to place it on your head.

“Pass it here,” George said from behind you, you passed him the headband as He gave you Theo. He gently slid it into your hair, kissing the back of your head when He was done. You quietly headed downstairs, Theo securely on your hip as you held him. Diana had gotten changed and was ready to take Theo as He was coming with you.

The car door was opened and you climbed inside with George quickly following. You knew the drive from Kensington to Buckingham like the back of your hand, you had done it nearly every day for years; but it felt like centuries until you got there. It had obviously been released to the media as there were swathes of people outside the palace, laying flowers in front of the wrought iron gates. The official notice on an easel just inside. As you drove through the crowds of people you could see the tear stained faces, the impact that your fathers life had on his people.

You only hope you’d amount to half of that.

I hope you enjoyed pt.2! There is a part 3 currently in my drafts and that will more than likely be the final part unless I do any mini fics. Thank you all for all your love and support, - E x

[sitp-recs]

Hey, again love your recs! I'm completely in love with Drarry because of these lovely stories. Wondering, an recs with a rugged Harry/ Draco ( as in manual labour), and always sweet and smutty is always a win. I appreciate your time, thanks a bunch!

Thank you anon, I’m happy to hear that! Ohh very interesting ask, here are some E-rated fics for you. You might also enjoy this list with buff!Draco 🫡

Hot Metal by @bafflinghaze (E, 5k)

Harry Can’t Deal with the vision of Malfoy hot and sweaty at work in his blacksmithing forge. Meanwhile, Draco is entirely perplexed with Potter’s odd behaviour.

Heart to Hearth by @jtimu (E, 7k)

It should perhaps not have been a surprise that the repairman on his front step came not with coveralls and a toolbox but instead with a sardonic stare and a raised eyebrow. Harry stood in his open door and shut his mouth with an effort.

Wield Me by @tackytigerfic (E, 10k)

Draco Malfoy, blacksmith, is renowned through the magical world for his skill and exquisite creations. He could quite easily spend the rest of his days making pretty trinkets for the fae court, and being handsomely rewarded for the privilege. But why take the easy route when instead he could get involved in a dangerous mission with Unspeakable Harry Potter (who also happens to be Draco's... well, he's something, isn't he?).

Hippomancy for Beginners by khalulu (E, 11k)

When Draco desperately insists on becoming a Centaur Liaison, he doesn’t know what he’s getting into, especially with that annoying hero-turned-hermit Harry Potter living right at the entrance to the Forbidden Forest. Not to mention foreign unicorn women, slavering three headed beasts, bitter brews, unexpected friendships, and the consequences of a very cocky vocabulary.

Voices From The Fog by noeon (E, 13k)

After years of running away, Harry crosses paths with an all-too familiar face and follows him to Amsterdam.

One Floo Over the Lovegood’s Nest by Nattish (T, 14k)

Harry is not terribly surprised that there are magical plumbers, chimney sweeps, and pest control men. He is surprised that one of them is Draco Malfoy. And that he’s bloody hot in a jumpsuit.

Phoenix Repair Services by carpemermaid (E, 20k)

Draco hires a suspiciously private wizarding handyman to fix his kitchen when he returns home to find it destroyed. He expects a middle-aged wizard with greying hair and a pudgy gut to show up. Instead, he gets Harry Potter—with a utility belt and a charming smile—who is more attractive than he has any right to be.

Here Be Dragons by birdsofshore (E, 21k)

Harry doesn’t want to waste his time investigating illegal dragonhide trading, whether it involves a fetish club in Knockturn Alley or visiting a remote island in Wales. Why the bloody hell does Malfoy always have to be up to something?

Kept in Cages by @sweet-s0rr0w (E, 77k)

Deep in the heart of the Ministry lies the Beast Division: a hidden room where ancient beasts roam, and winged creatures soar, and grumpy giant ferrets eat all your biscuits unless you keep them well hidden. Draco Malfoy would know – he’s been working there for five years now, after all.

I Am Not Who I Became by mab_di (E, 93k)

Draco left England after the trials and has travelled the world meeting wizards and Muggles from different cultures and with vastly different relationships to magic, each other, and the natural world. Now he's a fisherman in Finland on commercial vessels. Harry has been struggling since the war and has become a recluse while trying to write his autobiography.

[themindlessramblingsofamadwoman]

Ruby made the rules of the game

She’d heard stories as a child of people stepping in fairy circles and disappearing to fairyland, to Elfame, to Tir Na Nog. So it was only logical that the doctor would disappear after stepping in one too, sent off to some magical land

The last time Ruby went to wales she ended up in a little pub with live music and drunken local lads who propositioned her endlessly. When she finally made her lack of interest clear after half an hour of tight lipped smiles and polite thank yous to increasingly uncomfortable compliments the boys turned cruel. They mocked her endlessly for being English. They made jokes about the English being soft and about Welsh independence. They smelled like cigarettes and cider and caged her into their little corner booth. The Welsh hated the English those boys said it themselves, so it made perfect sense in Ruby’s mind that locals in this pub would be just as cruel.

When ruby thinks back on the day the doctor disappeared two things stand out with immense clarity the name mad Jack scribbled on a piece of paper and the doctor talking about Roger ap Gwilliam. After seeing his debate on the news it became so clear that they must be connected it couldn’t be a coincidence. So Ruby settled on an objective and new rules for her game

But ruby lost the game the minute Marti Bridges joined the fray. Poor Marti with her big eyes and constantly quivering lips. One thing the doctor and ruby have in common is they don’t sacrifice others to win. The moment that apology slipped from her lips ruby lost the game and had to start over.

When ruby was 11 mindlessly browsing the internet she stumbled across a Buzzfeed article about the top 10 weirdest facts about the human mind. Entry number 7 claimed that in your final moments of brain function before you died your whole life flashed before your eyes. Older now with skin like leather and white wiry hair ruby mused about the idea of being able to change her past in those few moments when she revisited them. So Ruby set the rules once more

And Ruby so desperate to change her past to abandon a boring life of loneliness changed the rules

[lestappenforever]

Since I’m on a roll with the race, here’s my post race analysis if the insane British Grand Prix (which gave us the strategic race we hopes Monaco would be tbh)

Williams, see what happens when you give both your drivers competent cars with 2024 components and such. One goes to score and the other is literally this close to scoring points. Also, something that broke my heart is the way Logan was kinda panicking over Alex’s car having a piece of bodywork off, and not for comedic reasons, he’s been with this team and they’ve let him down enough times that he thought they’d sacrifice his race for Alex, which thank God they didn’t.

Haas, I am beyond impressed and Nico is a midfielder goat (judge me, but he’s pulling his haas places it should never be tbh). Qualified and finished p6, two consecutive p6 finishes. This man is just way too underrated for his own good. And something I was talking with my friend about is this: Nico is a mechanical engineer, so he understands and knows the jist of things around the garage. And for the first time (I think) he doesn’t have a bozo as his to, rather a technical one, and this is why he’s able to extract everything and more from this car. Also in this house, we love Haas and Nico.

VCARB are still improving and impressing me. Let’s be real, Yuki had no business in scoring today, but he did, and that is just something I love to see, Daniel was meh, okay, nothing to crazy. What will happen this Thursday and beyond, is what’s gling to be bery interesting.

Ferrari ate back to the Ferrari ways of using Charles as a lab rat, and not giving him dat. I want to understand, why was Charles given different information to Carlos? I mean he was starting p11 for goodness sake, very good chance at points, but Ferrari just ruined his race with the information he was given. Carlos was given proper information and you could see that, he even made a place up from his starting position so it is beyond me why Charles was misinformed (and why he signed in the first place, but that is a discussion for another ask)

Now for the last 3 teams, Red Bull, Mercedes and McLaren. I’ll start by Checo who had a race to forget, especially because apparently both driver were givn the option to pit, and Checo chose the wrong window for it. But he needs to wale up or that seat could go as soon as next year. As for George, his race and strategy was spot on, and I can’t fault him or the team for anything, it was just unlucky that the water system broke, a mechanical failure, not a fault of his own.

Now, for the next 4 drivers, this is what will sum it up: engineers-driver communications.

Lewis and Bono has clear communication throughout the whole race, and the strategy was pretty spot on (though the softs were not it as we saw towards the end) but he was able to pull through, and went ahead for an emotional 9th British GP win. This is because of the decision and the information that was passed between driver, race engineer, strategy team and the other engineers who are all involved in the race real time.

Max-GP-Hannah, Will and Red Bull strategy team. I love you, that’s all I could say. Set up wasn’t working at the beginning, but the communication between Max and GP, as well as the others behind the scene, with Hannah on the pit wall, asking Max WHEN je’d like to pit in a pit stop window, how much rain/water/spar, how confident is he, and how he wants it to go, then the decision of fuck it slicks now when Lewis pitted was an example of how much they discussed and how much Max has learned from these guys, when to feel confident with the data and the car, the grip and how to cut that pit stop, undercutting Lando and then going ahead to snatch P2, so close to P1. The strategy team should be beyond proud of themselves for the hard compound choice, it was actually the best, with the tyres not dying early and giving that RB20 speed and grip it lacked during the medium stint. I am sure if anyone would have asked Max or Red Bull if he’d get P2, 1.4 seconds off P1 at the beginning if the race, they would have called this person not just insane, a nut case.

McLaren however are a different case, the communications between the engineers and the drivers was just not there. Pitting Oscar late and leaving him out, only to be slotted behind Max after pitting for inters and Max has speed and confidence on those inters. Then the all over the place for the slicks, asking oscar what tyres he wants and he says mediums, which was a better choice than Lando’s choice of softs that cost him p2. I mean, the strategy was all over the place and the data was not properly provided to both Lando and Oscar, that’s why both were disappointed, from a potential 1-2 to a disappointing and discouraging 3-4 and a lack of proper communication with their engineers.

To sum up, this race relied on strategy and communication not just speed. And as seen, Ferrari never learn, Red Bull are beyond amazing (touches wood because I’m superstitious and don’t want to jinx them), McLaren are with the fuck it we’re quick isn’t going to give them wins, and Mercedes with the slow but sure consistency go places. Now let’s hope Red Bull have upgrades that Pierre said about because I can’t handle this anymore, and BRING IN HUNGARY

Yet another beautiful analysis that deserves to shine in all its glory.

[honeybadger-has-a-grimoire]

An Introduction to Arthurian Paganism

Hey, everyone! I’m back with another practice-related post. This time, we’re talking about Arthurian Paganism.

It should be noted that I am still researching and learning about the Arthurian Canon, and Tumblr’s #Arthuriana tag has been, unironically, extremely helpful. They have massive blog posts with links to copies of books that have been published and translated, abridged or unabridged, compilations and separate short stories, etc. which are becoming quite useful to me in my research. And for that, to the people who post and follow the Arthuriana tags, I say thank you. Your work—be it memes, academic compilations of sources, or artwork—has made this not only easier, but very fun.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the Arthurian Pantheon, starting with what it exactly is at this point in my research and spirituality.

What is Arthurian Paganism and How did I get here?

The what and the how are where I want to start. Simply put, I think this is the easiest thing to understand before we go down the rabbit hole of me assigning correspondences, working with festivals, etc.

Plus, anyone, especially in the Western World, has some vague understanding of what the King Arthur story is about. This gives us some equal playing field for a good understanding of the jumping off point of my spiritual path with the Arthurian Pantheon.

So to begin, the Arthurian Pantheon is the characters of King Arthur Stories being honored as deities.

I stumbled across this accidentally when I was trying to worship the Lord and Lady of the Land. A lot of how envisioned these deities came across as King Arthur and Lady Morgan Le Fay—and I was quite intrigued and confused. I had done some honoring of Morgan Le Fay in the past, but not much, and yet could not shake the feeling that there was something here for me to explore.

And as a child, I was always in love with the King Arthur stories and retellings I came across.

It took me a few months to fully embrace, but, by the time Lunasdagh arrived, I began considering in earnest how to honor King Arthur and Lady Morgan within their respective mythos.

King Arthur Pendragon is a mythic King of Britain. While there’s no real historical evidence that states he was a real person, to my knowledge at time of writing, we can trace his story specifically back to Wales as a folk hero in the Mabinogion. Here Arthur is usually portrayed as a vaguely supernatural entity who helps other travelers on their quests.

One such notable one is of Arthur helping his cousin win the hand of a giantess in marriage, if I remember correctly.

His time as a Welsh folk hero is discussed, briefly, in the Mythillogical podcast’s episode on YouTube. The link can be found here.

This version of Arthur is quite different from what he will become, as he is a wanderer and has a lot more agency in these tales. King Arthur tends to lose a bit of focus and agency over the overarching story of Camelot as the Canon grows both in characters and gets codified over time.

This loss of agency or lack of focus, whichever you prefer to call it, reminds me quite a bit of the human life cycle. Arthur, as people add on to his legends starting with Geoffrey of Monmouth and his Welsh Counterparts going all the way up to the modern day, goes through the cycle of birth, childhood, young adulthood, adulthood, elder, death, and finally rebirth. He represents a very human experience—from making mistakes (sleeping with his sister Morgause and in a fit of regret and anger at what he did goes to try and drown every child born on May Day in order to not eventually die at the child’s hand) to just trying to be a genuinely good man and king (his attempts at trying to persuade his Knights and Lords to have Mercy on Queen Guinevere when she was falsely accused of murder and rightfully accused of adultery).

King Arthur is very human and that is necessary for a chief god of a pantheon that I believe in, because I could never get behind a perfect god or a supposed son of god who is meant to share a human experience to understand us better but yet simultaneously is meant to be perfect.

So King Arthur became a comfort as a chief god, even if I haven’t really worked with him yet.

I do say good morning to him every morning though, because I associate King Arthur with the sun.

I mainly got here through Lady Morgan Le Fay, though. She reached out to me about a year ago through a vision I had while working at my part time job. I saw myself following her through mists in an indigo cloak with silver embroidery. So I began to honor her the best I could—I even picked up the Mists of Avalon, and read it for a while, to get her perspective on Arthurian Canon. Then, as the stress of finding a full time job and then having two jobs all began to bubble up, I fell off.

(Which I will get back to the novel eventually. I’m going to be reading a lot of Arthurian books and romances for the foreseeable future.)

Recently, through the attempt at honoring the Lord and Lady of the Land, I found my way back to Lady Morgan. When I reach out to a goddess in divination, I ask for her. When I do my kitchen witchcraft, I do it in her name. When I think of making something for my craft, I think of making it for her.

I wanted to do this seriously and the best I can.

Doing so led to me realizing that it’s not just King Arthur and Lady Morgan who gained spiritual/magickal/etc. independent being status through the centuries of rewriting, retelling, and rediscovering the Arthurian tradition again and again. They all were alive in their own way. Entities in their own rights with their own domains and their own things to teach us, the characters of King Arthur’s stories are alive.

And I had that realization relatively recently. Just a bit before my “Sir Gawain Type of Day” post.

So that’s how I got here.

Now let’s talk about my recent experiences.

My Experiences with the Pantheon:

This section will be quite short as my experiences aren’t much in the grand scheme of things—and a few are a bit personal. The findings are rather few as of right now, but I am starting out and the Arthurian Pantheon as a whole requested that I focus on the research aspect first as a way to honor them before I do anything big like celebrate Sabbats and stuff.

Lady Morgan also reiterated this fact with me last week, and reminded me that I do need to practice patience with myself.

And I’m trying, promise.

For my experiences with the pantheon, I’ve mainly interacted with Lady Morgan. She helped me pass my excel certification exam which allowed me to get my current full time position, and I asked that of her because I thought I’d be quitting my part time job once I got a full time position. I would have more time for the craft, which I promised her that I would make. However, the current state of the economy, and the cost of living where I live specifically, required me to work both jobs in order to pay bills and save up for an apartment.

So, I never really kept up my end of the deal—despite trying to for a while.

Lady Morgan’s energy never seems to give much away about her emotions. I’ve only ever felt an ancient patience and kindness with her. Much like a dusty old library on a misty spring morning, Lady Morgan’s energy is that of learning the art of patience and being okay with waiting—leading you down the path at your own pace.

Her energy also is heavily linked to the moon, mists, and rainstorms from what I’ve found.

The moon is something that she always radiated to me. Lady Morgan guides the way through the night, providing light and guidance through moonlight and stars. The moon tends to show its phase in a very different way if I’ve just been speaking to Lady Morgan earlier that evening and the stars seem much brighter despite the light pollution.

In my limited dealings with Lady Morgan, I’ve also found that, if I did something she was particularly proud of, a morning mist greeted me the next day. I feel the most comfortable in the mists, especially in the morning, so I always appreciate that little treat.

Lord, or more accurately, King Arthur has a different energy that I am sometimes able to connect to in the mornings.

King Arthur’s energy to me is very much the sun. It’s bright and welcoming and even protective to an extent. He’s constant, strong, and reliable. I also associate him with stags, not only because of the whole White Stag search that may or may not have ruined his wedding to Queen Guinevere (depending on the version you’re reading), but also because deer are quite common where I live. Does are definitely more common than stags, yes, but the few times I see a Stag I just immediately think it’s King Arthur.

I think this association began with the Mists of Avalon. Especially when there’s a whole trial by deer that Arthur needs to go through in order to be accepted by the Tribes and it results in his son with Morgaine, Mordred.

Beyond that association, stags tend to be connected to nobility and dependability in our modern media symbolism shorthand, with the most prominent example coming to mind being Elijah Mikaelson from the Vampire Diaries extended universe. Elijah’s nicknamed the Noble Stag for being a Mikaelson the people can trust to keep his word to the letter. He usually acts as the consciousness of his brother, Klaus, and tries to put family above all else.

In my mind, King Arthur is much the same. His energy is that of a stag—a man who keeps his word, puts the people he loves before himself, and is a just king.

And, finally, I felt Sir Gawain’s energy once. I wrote a blog about it, just a small musing really. But to me Gawain’s energy is that of liminal tidings. His energy is soft and comforting as the wheel of the year turns and we shift from one season to the next. At Yuletide/Winter Solstice, he deals the blow to the Green Knight—which rings in the warmer half of the year. And at Litha/Summer Solstice, he faces the Green Knight once more to bring in the colder half of the year.

Possibly.

I think this may change as Sir Gawain is definitely a god of the seasons and their shifts, but I can’t tell if it’s Sir Gawain who rings in the different parts of the year, or if it’s King Arthur, or someone else I have yet to interact with, or no one in the pantheon at all.

But, for now, I will say it’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that ring in the colder and warmer halves of the year.

But that is the extent of my experiences with the Arthurian Pantheon thus far. I am reading up on them still, as a part of my research and way to honor them.

My Recent Findings on the Pantheon:

Through my research, as I currently read “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” as translated by Jessie Weston, I have found that King Arthur likes to hear stories of great feats from his knights and/or songs, or see a good game before he eats a feast, so that will be implemented during times I offer some food up to him. He also refuses to eat until everyone at court is sitting and served when hosting a grand feast, so if I invite people over I will try and do the same. King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table love to have feasts with dried meats and honey wine ( AKA mead ).

When I get my apartment, I will practice making honey wine for libations to the King and his Knights.

My time browsing the Arthuriana tag on Tumblr, and the abridged version of Le Morte d'Arthur read by Derek Jacobi, indicated that Sir Gawain loves apples. So when I honor Sir Gawain specifically, I’ll see if I can make apples ready for the occasion.

The abridged version of Le Morte d’Arthur previously mentioned also pointed two days that I specifically took note of: Arthur’s birthday, being around December 24th, and Arthur’s king making which was on Candlemas, February 2nd. So I will definitely be celebrating Candlemas, and King Arthur’s birthday, which falls during Yuletide.

The Mists of Avalon audiobook that I’m listening to on Spotify indicates that Lady Morgan is knowledgeable in herb lore and is gifted with the Sight. So any form of herbalism and divination could be considered devotional acts to Lady Morgan. Or working with the Fair Folk, as in that telling of Arthurian canon has Lady Morgan descended from the Fae Folk of the British Isles.

And that’s all I have at the moment research wise. I haven’t had time to sit down and finish “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” in order to move on to the next pieces of Arthuriana on the docket.

Conclusion:

As you can see, I don’t have much in the way of research or experiences yet. Really, this Introduction to the Arthurian Pantheon is just me trying to get my thoughts and early findings down on paper so I can continue forward.

I really can’t wait to learn about and from this very large and very diverse pantheon.

I’m not even sure if I’ll get to everyone—or if this counts as Celtic or Pop Culture paganism! I tag it as Celtic since these stories tend to be leaning more Celtic in nature and its birth in the British Isles.

But I hope you guys enjoyed this introduction into the pantheon and my experiences with it! I’ll make a more comprehensive and scholarly introduction when I have more time, knowledge, and experience under my belt with the pantheon if necessary. For now though, this is where I end the introduction post.

Until next time!

[tropinano]

A Descriptive List of Celtic Fiction Podcasts

Reminiscent of fiction podcasts like TMA, Jack of All Trades etc... If you enjoy anything horror-comedy, general horror or narrative podcasts check these out!

note: Thank you for the reccommendations! I've added them to the list.

Scottish

Middle:Below by Tin Can Audio - A horror-comedy about a fella called Taylor, he can travel inbetween the regular world and the 'middle' realm, and seems to be the only one...until!! He has banter with a charismatic ghost man called Gill and has a pet cat named Sans(?). Good sound quality and fun times.

The McIlwraith Statements by Ghostly Thistle - A monologue narrative about Sarah McIlwraith, recounting her mysterious involvement in the famous 'IPP' study. Dark academia vibes. The narrator has an absolutely lovely voice and accent!

Caledonian Gothic - Descriptive like HFTH, storytelling but the serious tone borderlines silly. If you like I Have Seen Niagara, you might like this! States it's true crime, true stories, but also promises magic and narratives aswell.

Irish

Neighbourly by Matthew O.K Smith - A horror anthology podcast about a creepy neighbourhood and the residents within. Stunnin' narration, with really good stories. I got pretty far in and it uploads every Monday. Great stuff.

The Switchboard by Hog and Dice Productions - A 'daily radio show' horror podcast set in a LIGHTHOUSE. HELL YEAH. It's got some funky sound design and some good stories. Both this and Neighbourly have lovely Dublin accents, and nice stories as usual.

Petrified by Peter Dunne and Liam Geraghty - An award-winning horror anthology podcast with very captivating and realistic dialogue. Unsettling and uneasy feeling it gives me. Main guy Teddy from the 'Dead Air' prologue is defo northern! I want to emphasize the realistic dialogue, it's great. Haven't heard him yet, but this podcast also has CECIL BALDWIN acting in it. Give it a shot!

In Darkness Vast by Hammergrin - A sci-fi podcast with some characters with funky names like Doombuggy, Earthfrank and Nervejump. Wolf 395 vibes, Nervejump is a silly AI lady up to shenanigans. Has some fun voices and sound design. Don't know much about it but it's made in Cork!

The Outside Tapes by Liam Brett and Evan Daly - Classic casette tape horror drama. Alfie Greaves is a journalist investigating a bizarre series of events that are all somehow connected. I love Alfie's voice because he has the same accent and inflection as me so it's very lovely to listen to! He is investigating deaths, so it seems to be a nice mix of Magnus Archives and Death by Dying.

Welsh

Seren by Robin Howell - A short sci-fi about Seren flying through the stars to terraform a new planet. Going by the trailer, it sounds great! Some Cymraeg right off the bat. Great stuff. Gives off some melancholy vibes, and has a funky spaceship AI voice.

Gather the Suspects by MadeUp Audio Productions - A groovy-opening theme mixed with a promising murder mystery. Set in Wales "during a very boring apocalypse". Promises relatable characters, procrastinators, mystery and humour.

This Foul Earth by John Tucker - A comedic, easygoing series (from what ive heard so far) in which everyday Welsh people describe a story they believe deserves to be archived for future generations. Clever writing and good vibes!

as always if youse have anything to add rb and pop it in the tags, these are all very underrated and theyre all quite good and high quality! have a good evening yall

[alexanderwales]

Disclaimer: this is a very long ask. Please feel free to ignore it if you're busy, or for any other reason - 'I love your work!' is a decent summary. Hello Mr. Wales! And belated welcome to tumblr from someone else who also spent years seeing tumblr screenshots on reddit and twitter before joining.

I read Significant Digits a while back (immediately after reading HPMoR) and enjoyed it a lot, so thank you for that! More recently, I've tried doing some writing myself, with middling success (a HPMoR, Delve, Mother of Learning and Mage Errant crossover).

One of my readers left a long and fascinating comment on my fic, in which they quoted your review of HPMoR at length: https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/a-call-to-the-dark-city-delve-mother-of-learning-hpmor-mage-errant-multicross.127432/post-30801851

I found that I disagreed with your thoughts quite a bit, which surprised me! My response is in the next post in that chain, but the gist (ignoring context specific to my fic) is this exchange:

Harry does not win the climax of the fic by having overcome his flaws, he wins it through brutal murder. The biggest organic change he undergoes is from believing in the value of truth to advocating for multiple conspiracies against both the wizarding and muggle worlds, and if that's character growth, I find it ugly.

My (shortened) response:

As Alexander Wales notes, Harry *does* change in HPMOR: he becomes less open, less willing to share information widely, and shifts focus from local issues (people and ethics near him) to what he considers global risks and outcomes. As a reader, I'm not too interested in whether or not the change in Harry's character is in a 'good' direction, or whether or not he becomes a better person, or whether or not his views over time gradually approach my own. For me, the most important thing in a story is that it is *interesting* - and I find Harry's arc in HPMOR very interesting.

I'm curious about if you have thoughts on the general debate there - to what extent do you think writers should prioritise faithful simulation of characters and setting vs. giving the characters an arc with an emotionally satisfying conclusion? Or is deciding initial conditions such that accurate simulation leads to a satisfying character arc and emotional conclusion *the real puzzle*?

Thanks again - I've enjoyed your writing a lot over the years, and expect to enjoy it more soon! (About 10 of my readers have independently recommended that I read Worth the Candle based on the stories I've included in my fic, so it's pretty close to the top of my reading list :p )

(I am obligated to point out that Significant Digits was not mine. I wrote a very short epilogue here, but nothing of the length or complexity of any of the notable fan sequels.)

I've been thinking about how to answer this for a bit, but I think what it comes down to for me is that I want a story to have a clear thematic, emotional, or intellectual through line. I want a story to be about some specific thing, and then take that thing through its paces, and to have us come out the other end having explored that thing in its fullness.

To some extent, I like stories best when they're driving at some singular vision, which I know as a sprawling webfic author probably seems insane. So if the ultimate conclusion is "yes, we should commit conspiracies against people for their own good" then I would like for the early parts of the story to show us why that's the case, ideally by having some truth be put out into the world that causes damage, or by showing how a lesser conspiracy worked to protect something, or whatever else. Or contrarily, if it's the work's position that conspiracies are bad things, then it should show us how and why they're bad, and why this character is making that decision anyway. Or if the work isn't sure how it feels about this thing, I still want them to explore it, to see the different scenarios and thoughts.

I'm an avowed fan of HPMOR, and I am unfortunately the sort of fan that has a lot of critical takes about the things that I enjoy. My biggest problem with HPMOR is that it's not thematically "whole": the individual parts don't feel like they mesh that well together (in my opinion). With that said, I haven't reread HPMOR in a very long time, and my arguments are rusty, so I don't want to give them here.

I think my desire for thematic cohesion is probably work-dependent, but even so, is also probably at the far end of reader preferences. Some people are perfectly happy to read things that are more simulationist in nature: a character does things because that's what they would do, and if this doesn't build up to some grand theme or climactic showdown, so be it. I do think a lot of the trick of writing is making character stuff work in harmony with plot stuff, because you don't want people to feel like "oh, he just did that because the plot demanded it" (though they will say that about almost anything, in my experience).

I don't think that HPMOR is fatally flawed for its thematic wanderings, and I do think there's some sense in which it's best read as a you'd read a TV show with multiple "seasons" which are individually about something but don't necessarily have as solid of a through line. It's just a personal preference thing, I guess.

[sportsthoughts]

people you want to know better

Thanks for the tag @dilftanger

Tagging... not sure who's already done this one... @icedbatik @idontlikeem @freebooter4ever @prettyhockey

Last Song: Easy Silence - The Chicks. great song!

Currently Watching: Finished the first Lord of the Rings extended edition this evening with mr sp. I am team extended edition and he is team inferior short version but I'm winning him over, I think. Next up: The Two Towers (my personal favourite)

Currently Reading: About five things on the go. The one I'm really trying to finish before holiday is a vaguely work related book on forgiveness. Not as heavy or miserable as it sounds! I need a good lighthearted holiday book though - please send me recommendations if you guys are reading anything good.

Current Obsessions: I am 4 days into 75 soft and feeling both very excited about it and extremely obsessed with how much water I'm drinking every day. It's all I can think/talk about. Also really into pinterest again lately.

Sweet, Savory, or Salty: Sweet always. Ate some very very good dark mint chocolate this evening and it really hit the spot.

Relationship Status: married to the world's tallest and silliest man

Favorite Color: Greens. Browns. Blues. OG Twilight colour palette.

Last Thing I Googled: Warwick Davis - my parents are currently sat next to him in a restaurant in Wales.

[three-drink-amy]

Thank you for the tags @freneticfloetry @carlos-in-glasses @cha-melodius @kiwichaeng! Also, thank you to people who have tagged me in numerous things in the last couple weeks. I haven’t been around much. I will get to all my nice asks soon and send some belated ones!

“Are you a good driver on the left side of the road?” Shaan asks, that same piercing stare on Alex. It makes him squirm a bit.

Alex wants to stare back at him, but he drops his gaze. “I…” Straightening his shoulders and picking up his head, he feigns confidence. “I’m a good, adaptable driver. I could do this.”

Henry is no help. He just laughs from the backseat.

“I’m sure you are,” Shaan says, a bit patronizing. “As it is, I don’t want tomorrow’s headline to be that the Prince of Wales was killed in a car driving on the wrong side of the road by his American security.”

“That seems like it would be bad for international relations,” Henry quips.

Alex turns around from the passenger seat to glare at him. “You’re no help.”

“Never claimed to be,” Henry replies with a winning grin.

No pressure tagging: @everwitch-magiks @welcometololaland @rmd-writes @clottedcreamfudge @indomitable-love @athousandrooms @dumbpeachjuice @walkinginland @liminalmemories21 @alrightbuckaroo @bonheur-cafe @catanisspicy

[andydrysdalerogers]

Troublemaker ~ Epilogue ~ One Year Later

He is one of the best goaltenders in the league. He's also hated by his teammates. He didn't mean to be a troublemaker but why not lean into it? There wasn't anyone to stop him.

Until he met her...

A Jeremy Swayman AU x OFC Stella Williams

Story Warnings: excessive drinking, SMUT!, an asshole Jeremy, angst

A/N: Hello and welcome to a spin-off "Cross-Checked" so plenty of characters from that story are crossing over here! If you want a more detailed story of how we ended up here, read the first store HERE

A/N 2: It's over! The offseason was stressful with Jeremy in limbo for his contract but he's back and I don't have to root for Los Angeles! (There was a rumor he was being traded.) thank you for reading and enjoying this story. And now, the final installment of Troublemaker!

Previous: A Leap of Faith

Please note that I do not give permission for my work to be translated, reposted, or published anywhere other than my Tumblr. Reblogs are most welcome though!

Banners by me! Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Series Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Eastern Conference Final Game Six 

Jeremy 

We were on the cusp of another trip to the Finals. There were five minutes left and we were tied. But I held strong. Going from sharing starts to being the starter had prepared me for this. It was nice to know that Linus was in the stands with his family and mine.  

And Stella.  

One year later and I’m still in that happy honeymoon stage. Andy says that it never really goes away. He would know since he’s marrying his girl in three weeks. But then again, he’s been in love with his girl since he was 22.  

But now I’ve got to focus. Four minutes left and we need to score. I really don’t want to end up in overtime, but I’ll do what I gotta do. Consecutive trips to the Finals are not unheard of but it is rare.  But I wanted it. I wanted to prove that I had earned my Venza trophy.  

Three minutes. The plays had been in our offensive zone, but a loose puck slide down the ice and Austin fucking Matthews takes the puck. Fucker became captain of the Leafs at the beginning of the season and had guaranteed that the Leafs would bring home a cup.  

Not on my fucking watch.  

I track him as he picks up the puck and moves down the ice. I’ve studied him, I’ve watched, and I’ve learned.  He’s going to deek me top glove side. He’s been doing it to every goalie this year and has a 60% success rate. Except for me. I haven’t let one in.  I crouch into position, and I watch as he tweaks his position. He’s going stick side, I think. I’ve got this.  As he lets the shot fly, I get my blocker up and let it bounce in front of me.  He let that shot go from 50 feet away, so I have the chance to sweep the puck to Brad. I could see if got away from his defender, who was an idiot and stopped moving his legs when Matthews let the puck fly.  

Brad charges with David and Andy. They have a partial breakaway and a chance. Two minutes. They take the shot and miss but get the rebound. The fans in Toronto are screaming. We’re up by one game and if they don’t win, they are out. They want to force the tie to get overtime. But Andy Barber is a man on a mission. He circled the net and got it to our new rookie. Kid has magicians' hands and the little shit Michiagans the puck in.  

“Yes!” I roar skating toward the rest of my teammates. I get clobbered from the side as the bench guys get to me first.  We all skate together and celebrate in Toronto.  

After the traditional handshake and the presentation of the Prince of Wales trophy to Andy, who doesn’t touch it before we hit the tunnel to our families. I see Stella with tear tracks and her trademark smile. “Hey goalie!” She called out with a smile. “Looking to score?” 

I laughed but I made it to her and gave her a kiss. “Hey sweetheart. You look excited.”  

She shrugs. “Just a little,” she said with a giggle. “I’m so proud of you Jer. One more, baby, just one more series.”  

I kissed her hard as I felt something slipped into my hand.  “Can I make you happier?” I asked her.  

“Well, no because...” but she stopped, and the room got deathly quiet. “Jeremy?” 

I was down on one knee in front of her holding a little red box. “Stella, you have been my rock, my light, my strength and my love for over a year. And even through I’m not done with this season just yet, I want to ask you to stick with me, win or lose. So,” I take a breath, “Stella Nicole Williams, will you marry me?” 

I opened the Cartier box to show her the princess cut diamond solitaire that my grandmother had saved for me. Her hands were on her mouth before she nodded, and I smiled. "Yes, Jeremy, yes!" I stood up and picked her up and swung her around as everyone cheered. I put her back down and slipped the ring onto her finger. It was a perfect fit. It felt like fate.  

Later, on the plane home, I held my girl in my arms as she admired her ring. “When do you want to do this? Next spring or next summer?” 

“I mean, we could wait. Then the baby could be a part of the ceremony.”  

“Right, that would... be...what?” 

“Or we could elope and just have a party later on. I mean I do want Leia and...” 

I take her face in my hands. “Stella! Stop! Baby? You’re, we’re...” 

A single tear ran down her face. “Six weeks. I have an appointment in two weeks. But,” she pulled out a bag in her purse. It had a pregnancy test with two lines.  

“Oh my god, baby, we’re having a baby!” I whispered yelled. I kissed her hard. My hand drifted to her stomach. “Hi baby.”  

“Got a little troublemaker in the making, daddy.” She brushed my hair back. “I love you.”  

“I love you.”  

The End 

Taglist:

@patzammit

@texmexdarling

@slutforchrisjamalevans

@firephotogrl74

@tinkerbelle67

@before-we-get-started

@bunnyforhim

@alexakeyloveloki

@sunnyhummingbee

@whiskeytangofoxtrot555

@peaceinourtime82

@saucy-sassy-sparkly

@kmc1989

@kandis-mom

@lokislady82

@raven-blue3000

[exoid-the-locomotive-monarch]

Congrats Britain for finally, after 14 years, realizing that the party founded by rich aristocrats to maintain power for the British crown, DOES NOT LIKE YOU.

However, the party founded by workers and organized labor has little to brong to the table.

So the first thing this party needs to do is keep control of the narrative, especially in the critical condition Nigel Farage is an MP.

Nigel got his way to the top uncovering scandals in EU politics and electoral reform and embracing Margaret Thatcher to win the Right-Wing vote. Since this is an age after the Syrian civil war, Nigel has pivoted towards immigration politics to split the vote. It iv crucially important Labour does not let Nigel be the first thing British people think of when someone says “immigration reform”

Starmer, for the love of God, you have a mega-majority, if you have the BALLS to do what you can do, I have 3 requests:

1: associate economic and social strife with Tory politics, this is the elite class taking money from the poor and using their control over the media to shun anyone who doesn’t share their aristocratic and prudish culture. A coal miner from Wales has more in common with a Pakistani immigrant than… Nigel Farage.

2. Fix the voting system. I know that huge labor victory was because of first past the post, and that’s bullshit. Politicians should run on a popular platform, try ranked choice voting, or a percentage ratio, anything goddamnit. Nigel Farage is wrong about some things but he’s right about election mechanics

3. Build your coalition. Yeah I said it. Take back what you said about trans women in women’s spaces you pussy.

4: when a British person googles “nagging arse” make sure the first result they see is this

Thank you and have a safe Labour majority Britian, from across the pond!

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Your explanation of *secret third dialect* Welsh finally let me win an argument with my old housemates about pronunciation! We lived just off Crwys road for 2 years and everyone in the house said it differently. (Including English Southener Jamie who tried his best but mostly ended up coughing)

RIGHT?? So for me it was a lightbulb moment for pronouncing the Gaer in Newport. It sounds awful when you think it's a mispronunciation, but it makes so much sense when you know it's dialect.

I learned about this in an Eisteddfod, actually - they like to do lil lectures on the native dialect of wherever is holding it each year, and I went to said lecture when they held it in Abergavenny a few years back. This linguist explained it all, and then there was this ancient, dusty woman they'd apparently found in some remote farmhouse in the eastern Brecon Beacons somewhere who still spoke Gwenhwyseg, and they just had a chat to her about her life so we could all hear it. Except she was a thousand years old and didn't understand what microphones were and kept trying to put it down to offer the linguist tea.

Side note! There was one particular guy who made it his mission to hunt down speakers of Gwenhwyseg back in the Sixties and record them speaking to create a record of the dialect. It's thanks to him that we know so much about it. And that guy is Prys Morgan, brother of Rhodri Morgan, the first First Minister of Wales. Small world!

[belle-keys]

I loved your cordelia headcanons - do you have any specifically for jordelia? ❤️

Hi, thank you! Here are a few of my Jordelia headcanons:

You know that thing where people have whole conversations with their eye contact? Jordelia do it but with their eyebrows. They know what the other means, but people tend to think they’re having seizures when they do it in public. They mainly do it to gossip about their parents or Matthew.

James' favourite colour on Cordelia is gold or bronze.

James learns to eat spicy Persian food bit by bit, and it's lowkey painful and Alastair laughs at him, but he learns. Alastair buys him a hat for his resilience and strength.

James, fairly drunk, tries Persian dancing one night at family dinner with the Herondales. Cordelia joins him and it's fun. She won't admit it, but he was quite good.

They read George Eliot's catalogue together, taking turns reading the books to each other. They both teared up several times.

They tend to have baking battles with Thomastair and have Matthew and Lucie judge. Thomastair wins 9 times out of 10 because, cmon. Look at them. You think they can't cook?!

Besides Constantinople, they've traveled across Ireland, Wales, and France together.

[avenirdelight]

His Little Secret

Marcus Rashford

They’re keeping their relationship private, so they can’t show affection in public. Marcus makes sure he shows it when they have the chance to be alone, and apologises for something he’s done wrong.

For the amazing and lovely Miss @rashys 🤍

Marcus just wouldn’t let go of her, he hugged her tight for so long. To say that she was nervous was an understatement. The longer Marcus hugged her, the more nervous she was getting. She loved being in his embrace, she really did, but it was just the fact that he was hugging her not quite in a private place.

The players had been granted family time after their recovery session today. They’d gotten a big win yesterday against Wales, so spending some time with their loved ones was like a cherry on top. Some of them had chosen to go out and explore the area a little bit, some had chosen to stay at a villa near the hotel that had been arranged for them for the day.

Coady and his kids were taking a swim at the pool, Kalvin and his girlfriend were sitting and talking by the pool, Mason was playing with his nieces. Some of the lads and their families were hanging out on the porch. Marcus? He had taken her inside where nobody was there and given her the biggest hug he’d ever given her.

They hugged in silence. Marcus was slightly rocking her side to side, and she was getting confused because Marcus had barely said anything to her since she’d arrived. At first she was worried about getting caught, but now she was more worried about Marcus’ weird behaviour.

“You okay?” She finally decided to ask.

Her heart raced when she felt his deep chuckle rumbling on his chest. He caressed her back before finally loosening his arms, and she took the chance to search for his face. She felt a little bit of relief when she found the subtle smile on his face.

“I’m okay. I’m just happy about my performance yesterday and…” Marcus rested his hands on her waist, keeping her close to him. “I’m very happy to see you, really.”

“I’m very happy to see you too.” A smile grew on her face too. Memories from last night flashed on her mind and she still could still feel the thrill, and how her excitement had gone through the roof when Marcus scored. “It might be silly of me to say that I’m proud of you, since I haven’t been here for long, but I am really proud of you, Marcus. It’s always been amazing to see you play, but seeing you score goals at the world cup… It’s something else.”

“Nah, it’s not silly at all.” Marcus shook his head. “You’ve been supporting me and that's all that matters. Hey– Thank you for flying out here, it really means a lot.”

“I’d be so mad at myself if I hadn’t gone here. If I knew I had missed the chance to see those beautiful goals right where it happened, I’d be furious.”

Marcus let out another chuckle and it only made her smile grow wider. “You’ve made the right decision,” he said, and she nodded. “Did you see the celebration I did for you last night? The little flying kiss?”

She furrowed her eyebrows, more of a surprise than a confusion. “Oh, that was for me?”

“Of course that was for you!”

She giggled and felt her cheeks getting warmer. She could remember vividly how the lads huddled together in front of the family stand, celebrating Marcus’ second goal. And before Marcus had gone back in position to resume the game, he had taken the time to find her in the stand and sent her a flying kiss. Her heart jumped but she didn’t want to be too confident thinking it was for her.

“Well, I’m honoured. Thank you,” she said.

But Marcus’ smile faltered and he let out a small sigh. “I’m sorry,” he said suddenly. “I really want to say sorry because I know I haven’t been treating you right.”

“What do you mean?” Her face fell, quite taken aback by Marcus’ words.

“Last night when we were in the stands… I didn’t even give you a hug,” Marcus started. There was a heavy tone of regret in his voice, and she could easily find the regret in his eyes too. “I was too scared that people would take pictures, well– You know I’m just trying to protect you but– I was cold and indifferent, and it just wasn’t right.”

“Marcus, it’s fine.” She slightly shook her head. “We’ve talked about this. I understand.”

They were talking it slowly, that was their deal. And they wanted to keep their relationship private for the time being, just between their closest friends and family. Marcus was a high-profile person and he himself thought that he got a lot of exposure sometimes; he knew that she could get overwhelmed by that. Giving her all the time she needed to learn about his world was the top priority right now. She was his little secret and he needed to protect her; it meant no display of affection and mostly just acting like normal friends in public. Marcus tried hard to be careful with every action he took, but it seemed like he’d gone a little bit too far.

“I could do so much better. I could protect you and be careful without hurting you,” he said. “I’d do better, I promise.”

She held Marcus’ face with her hands. She got him to have his full attention on her and gave him a reassuring smile. “Marcus, honestly, you didn’t hurt me at all, I’m completely fine. Don’t worry too much about it, okay?” Her hands went to his shoulders and caressed them. “We’re both trying to do our best, Marcus, it’s all good… I’m actually flattered that you’re still thinking about me at this time.”

“I think about you all the time.”

She let out a little giggle, drawing a little smile from Marcus. “I think about you all the time too.” She wrapped her arms around Marcus’ middle and hugged him again. “I’m glad that we have some time to spend together today.”

“Yeah… I’ve really missed you.”

They both fell silent. Marcus was taking the moment to put a kiss on top of her head, which made her heart skip a beat. She couldn’t stop herself from wishing to kiss him right here right now.

“I want to introduce you to my teammates,” he said after a moment. “Would you like that?”

She loosened her arms and looked for his face. With lit up eyes, she met his gaze and she nodded her head. “Of course. I’d be so honoured.” She was honestly getting excited. “Can you introduce me to Kalvin Phillips? His girlfriend was such a sweetheart to me yesterday…”

“Yeah, sure.” He smiled. “But before that…”

Marcus cupped her hand with his hand and leaned in. He pressed his lips against hers. He kissed her and she felt her stomach flip. She held on for dear life onto his jumper, because her knees weakened from the sweet kiss and she was worried that she might lose her balance. At some point she stopped thinking at all and kissed him back.

They both were all smiles when they pulled away. This was the first time for her to be away from him for so long, so this kiss definitely felt different, and by the gaze in his eyes she could tell that he felt it too.

Marcus gave her a last peck on her lips before he grabbed her hand. “Let’s go. Are you ready?”

She nodded her head. It wasn’t the first time she was going to be introduced as Marcus' girlfriend, but even the idea still sounded crazy to her sometimes. But she held Marcus’ hand tight and put on her best smile, feeling nervousness and excitement building inside her as they walked back outside.

—

pretty sure i wrote this just after that england vs wales game but i had requests to do back then so i needed to push this one aside😵 can’t help but to be happy seeing marcus doing good right now🥺

if you want to be on my tag lists please fill in this form!

[marcus tag list: @smileytaa]

My Masterlist🤍